Pleasures and Meanings in Water-Based Sports - Essay Example

?Running Head: ETHNOGRAPHIC REPORT ON SPORT PLEASURES Pleasures and meanings in water based sports as defined and experienced by lap swimmers Class University Pleasures and meanings in water based sports as defined and experienced by lap swimmers Abstract The nature of lap swimming is that it is primarily a singular activity that is done for the stress relief that the physical activity provides, in tandem with the sometimes social experience when done with others. The event is a solitary event, however, with others swimming along side and sometimes making challenges in order to compare goals, but not within the concept of a team style experience. Through a set of two interviews with women who regularly swim laps, a discussion is made about the pleasure and meaning of lap swimming. In addition, a literature review allows for the experience of swimming to be further examined and then related back to the interviews in order to provide more context for the act of swimming laps. Introduction and Literature Review The sport of swimming is defined by the luxury of water as it creates sensations of pleasure through the defined experiences of the physical exertion of swimming. In addition, there is a social component as public swimming areas provide a temporary, but somewhat closed system of society in which a natural hierarchy is experienced. The following literature review provides context for the exploration of the topic of pleasure as it relates to the event of swimming through primary research that has been done from interviews with two female swimmers who participate in the event of swimming on a regular basis. The discovery of pleasure centers in the brain give some meaning to the experience of pleasure as it is felt within biological creatures. Pleasure and sensation are not the same thing because pleasure is a definition of a type of sensation. The philosophy of pleasure is tied to the physiology of sensation, but sensation is not always required for pleasure. Puccetti (1969) conducted experiments trying to define the pleasure centers and concluded that pleasure was within the brain and could be located. Despite the fact that he also found the center of punishment, and that a monkey would deteriorate quickly if the punishment center was stimulated repeated over the course of hours, indicates that there is more to punishment and pleasure through physical understanding of the event than can be found in philosophical discourse. Without the development of a way to understand how and why something creates pleasure, the idea that a physical component is involved is almost moot. Pleasure is a discourse as much as an experience (Puccetti 1969). It is the framing of ideas that result in something that extends into the social and cultural experience. For the purposes of this study, understanding that the physiological concept of pleasure is less important than the philosophical informed the research on the meaning of the experience over the sensation. The researcher could discern the difference between understanding why it create a feeling in contrast to what is involved in creating the sensation of pleasure in reference to the event. According to Busch (2007), the Hudson River is a place of deep history. In the late 1990s a team of scientists decided to create a sonar map of the river bed floor in order to investigate data relevant to marine life habitation. However, what they discovered was more than 200 wrecks that catalogued centuries of history from the time of the American Revolution, through the subsequent river tragedies. In addition, a 3000 year old wall that had been built at a time when the river was at a lower level was also found. In placing oneself into the water, leaving one’s own DNA trailing behind as one cuts a path through the water, a connection is made to the past and to the future. Each side of the river can be defined through space and time. The bank that one leaves is gone as the body moves through the water, reaching and striving for the other side in order to make a statement that defines the self. The swimmer becomes the embodiment of Foucault’s concepts of disciplinary power. This study provided deeper context for the pleasure that is involved in swimming. The experience of creating a challenge and setting a goal through the nature of swimming became a foundational discourse on how to understand swimming and the pleasure of the event. Through the descriptive nature of the article on swimming, a greater understanding of what connects the swimmer to the emotional experience of swimming was defined. Through this article, the study is informed on the deeper meanings of swimming. Scott (2009) states that “we can understand the swimmer’s body to be discursively constituted by notions of fitness, health, and exercise, which lend meaning to the activity within an interpretive framework” (p. 125). The swimmer becomes an emblem of the nature of the event, the interpretation of his efforts manifested in his activity. However, when the water source is defined by the enclosed space of a pool, a social order becomes established in which cultural norms become defining states. Scott (2009) goes on to say that “The activity of swimming must therefore be socially managed, by its organizations, interaction partners, and individual actors” (p. 123). The cultural setting of the swimming pool becomes a closed society, not unlike that of a prison in which the actors have specific roles and within which a hierarchy of social relevancy can be observed. Because there is a sense of society in the nature of swimming, the location of the event of lap swimming was better understood through this piece of research. A natural sense of order can be seen in the way in which people interact at a public pool. Scott (2009) reveals that “a typical public session can include up to one hundred swimmers, each with their own agenda, they seem to navigate their way around each other without too many collisions” (p. 126). Although different agendas and goals are seen within the many individuals within the enclosed state, the interactions take on a natural order and works through unspoken levels of status and control that provides the public context of the event. The access that a person has to swimming sources provides a discourse on the social consequences of swimming. The availability of swimming infrastructure and the exclusivity that is associated with those sources are in direct association with life chances that are associated with swimming (Hastings, Zahron, and Cable, 2006). In equality becomes a part of the discourse on the social values of swimming as there is a higher event of drowning in African American demographics than in Caucasian demographics. Hastings, Zahron, and Cable (2006) argue that this disparity is due to the exclusivity that can be appreciated in swimming areas with better resources for life preservation than in those that are funded by public funds and in areas of more poverty. Through this article, a sense of the nature of swimming as it relates to a greater sense of culture was understood. With the nature of swimming having a cultural disparity, and with it also being proven a sometime dangerous event, the meaning of the event of swimming was given cultural context. The World Health Organization has determined that 400,000 to 700,000 drowning occur each year on a global level and that it is geographically proportionate towards lower income areas. Hastings, Zahron, and Cable conclude that “Age, sex and racial participation are conditioned by the availability of instructional and competitive programs and the principle of social exclusivity that limits access even where a swimming infrastructure is available” (915). This information made a statement about the participants in the study. Methodology Participants In order to understand the nature of swimming for its social connotations of pleasure and meaning, I conducted an in-depth interview with two students who swim laps on a regular basis. The interviews were conducted in one session each, with two young women who swim laps three times per week at the GYM building at San Francisco State University. These two women were chosen for the study because of their dedication to a regular schedule of swimming and for their expressed enjoyment of the event of swimming. In addition, the women use multiple social configurations during their time in the pool, sometimes with other and sometimes alone, allowing for a deeper discussion about the way in which swimming gives them pleasure. Interview The interviews were conducted over a course of about 45 minutes each, with the use of light banter to make the participants comfortable before the official interview commenced. The interviews were conducted at two separate times, with the answers of one participant unknown to the other in order to assess their individual responses, rather than to assess a collaborative set of answers that can often build in a specific direction that would limit the discovery. The questions were designed to assess emotions and to provide the interviewer with context that a written set of answers would not have given. Data Analysis The data that was gathered was compared for emerging themes, as well as similarities and differences that could inform the research. The answers were compared and evaluated in regard to secondary research as the concepts that were presented to the interviewer by the participants was assessed for its relevance to the literature review that had been undertaken in order to give a deeper meaning to the responses that the participants gave during the course of the interview. Findings/Analysis Learning to Swim The initial discussion about swimming as it was defined for purpose and meaning for the participant was through the concept of physical exercise and the healthful benefits that come from swimming. Both participants initially answered the question of why they swim in reference to these benefits. The participant termed as VW expressed that she had begun swimming at the age of five, where the second participant known as ML indicated she had begun swimming at the age of seven. This is roughly the same age, thus suggesting that swimming from a young age provides context for the enjoyment that it provides. Both women indicated that they loved to swim. The Pleasure of Lap Swimming Participant VW stated that her father was a commercial diver, thus swimming was done by more members of her family than just herself, while ML took classes and her swimming was primarily an activity that she did on her own outside of her family social setting. Both women indicated that swimming was something they did both in groups and by themselves, although ML identified as a singular activity, no matter whether you were in a group, a competition, or actually alone. The swim is done within the framework of one’s own experience, and not something that is done in efforts that take collaboration or team work, other than hoping for overall team outcomes. In comparing the results to the research found on swimming the Hudson River by Akiko Busch (2007), the nature of swimming is something that is a solitary act that provides one to challenge themselves to deeper achievement. The Meaning of Lap Swimming Both participants discussed the leisure side of the event of lap swimming. The event was described as a way to relieve stress and provide entertainment, as well as to provide health benefits. Although Scott (2009) discusses at length the meaning of social interactions in a public pool experience, the nature of lap swimming is more similar to the lone work that Busch (2007) explored. Swimming is a conduit to health and the social benefits for these women are limited. The moment and pleasure of swimming, however, might be discovered in the ability to shut out the world within the water and focus on a goal without the pressure of competition or of social concepts that would interfere with the singularity of the event of lap swimming. Conclusions Lap swimming is a form of activity that is done with specific goals in mind. Health benefits and stress relief appear to be the primary reasons for engaging in the activity. Additionally, there is a potential for social interaction, although the act of lap swimming is more often a solitary activity, even when in a group setting. As a sports activity, it is primarily an act that is done alone, even in the environment of competition as the swimmer is responsible for the outcome without help or hindrance from the team or from an opposing force that tries to defend against the goal. The event is skill against skill, thus making the individual the center of the experience. When used as the participants in the study have used the event, it is primarily for the soul benefit of the swimmer, the physical activity allowing for the health benefits to be experienced. The limitations of having only two participants leaves the study without much comparison between differing opinions. Where the two participants might have provided similar themes, a larger study might show that the themes are in the minority. With a small participant group with only two voices, the study does not adequately explore the nature of pleasure and meaning because the answers do not give enough information from which to draw conclusions. Works Cited Busch, Akiko. (2007). Swimming the Hudson. Harvard Review. 23: 119-131. Hastings, Donald W, Sammy Zahran and Sherry Cable. (July 2006). Drowning in Inequalities: Swimming and Social Justice. Journal of Black Studies. 36 (6): p. 894-917. Puccetti, Roland. (October 1969). The Sensation of Pleasure. The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. 20(3): p. 239-245. Scott, Susan. (Spring 2009) Re-clothing the Emperor: The Swimming Pool as a Negotiating Order. Symbolic Interaction. 32(2): p. 123-145. Busch, Akiko. (2007). Swimming the Hudson. Harvard Review. 23: 119-131. (no abstract) Hastings, Donald W, Sammy Zahran and Sherry Cable. (July 2006). Drowning in Inequalities: Swimming and Social Justice. Journal of Black Studies. 36 (6): p. 894- 917. The authors argue that age, sex, and racial differentials in swimming participation are conditioned by the availability of swimming infrastructurea nd the principle of social exclusivity that limits access of lower status groupings, even where pools and programs are available. In turn, the authors argue that participation in swimming and where that activity occurs (pool versus open water) affect life chances (accidental drowning rates) across status groups. Multiple data sources were used to operationalize measures of swimming participation, social exclusivity, conditions associated with the development of swimming infrastructure, risk for a place to drown,a nd age, sex, and racial accidental drowning and submersion rates. Given that some progress has been made toward lessening social exclusivity with lower status groups now participating in many sports, and the under-reporting of deaths from accidental drowning and submersion, the authors believe that the confirmation of their hypotheses is conservative Puccetti, Roland. (October 1969). The Sensation of Pleasure. The British Journal for the Philosophy of Science. 20(3): p. 239-245. About the time Professor Ryle was telling us in the Tarner Lectures' that pleasure is not a sensation because, inter alia, it is not separable from its source, a cause or effect, clockable or locatable or describable the way pains are, there began a series of psychobiological experiments bearing on just this sort of question. Taking these into account might therefore contribute to our philosophical understanding of pleasure. It might also reveal some of the limitations of ordinary language philosophy. Scott, Susan. (Spring 2009) Re-clothing the Emperor: The Swimming Pool as a Negotiating Order. Symbolic Interaction. 32(2): p. 123-145. This article examines the unspoken rules, routines, and rituals of theswimming pool, using ideas from negotiated order theory, Foucault, Goffman’s dramaturgical theory, and symbolic interactionism. It identifies three sets of social norms: respect for personal space, respect for individuals’ disciplinary regimes, and the desexualization of encounters. I show how these rules are (normally) followed or (occasionally) breached through various rituals, and examine the consequences for interaction order. The tale of “The Emperor’s New Clothes” is used analogously to explain why actors cannot consciously attend to their precarious construction of reality, yet remain poised to defend it. Keywords: swimming, negotiated order, Goffman, body, norms, deviance, disciplinary power Read More